Letters
by Rain3070
Summary: Annie was always the odd one at school. She moved into a town where everybody grew up knowing each other, about 2 years ago. Ever since then, she's been bullied but she always fights back and ignores it. She is now a senior and finds herself in more drama then ever. And it starts with Armin. HIGHSCHOOL AU! ARUANI
1. Chapter 1

Annie Leonhardt was sitting in the very back of Mr.Ackerman's boring AP Calculus class. Her eyes kept flickering to the clock, hoping that time would pass by quicker, but it didn't happen. Class just started about ten minutes ago and Annie just wished she were in the back of her writing class, doing something she was actually good at. Creative writing.

Annie pulled out her worn out journal, planning on just doodling in the margins.

"You two are late!" Mr.Ackerman snapped at Eren Jeager and Armin Arlert who were just entering class.

"We're sorry, sir. We were occupied with other tasks at hand." Armin said, politely. Eren winked at Mr. Levi Ackerman who just glared at the pair, mostly at Eren.

"Sit down before I decide to give you both detention!" Ackerman gritted his teeth.

Eren grinned. Eren winked again and Ackerman stiffened. Annie raised her eyebrows and looked around to see if anyone else thought that Eren was being even stupider than usual. Not only that, he reeked of weed.

"You won't want detention, especially if you're stuck with Hanji." Ackerman shot back, as if Hanji was bad to be around. Most of the time she was but Annie was her best athlete.

"She's cool!" Eren defended his favorite teacher.

"Just sit down!" Ackerman said. "There's hardly any seats left, just make sure you brats don't sit next to each other alright?"

Annie has had to deal with Eren ever since she and her dad moved to this small town 2 years ago. She moved during her Sophomore year and quickly realized that everyone in town knew each other and did NOT want to associate with the new girl. They always had it out for her and whenever Eren, Jean, and Connie teased Annie, all of their other friends would be there, just watching. Including Armin. It is now Senior year and she still has to deal with their childish antics.

Annie felt the blood rush from her face. Eren quickly took one of the only seats up front and gave Armin a smug smile who immediately groaned when he saw the last remaining seat was with Annie. Annie rested her chin in the palm of her hand and stared at a dumb inspirational poster that all classrooms had hanging on the wall.

She didn't even look up to watch Armin come and sit next to her. She ignored him and he ignored her until he decided to start poking her arm with his pencil.

"Hey, do you have the bellwork?" He whispered.

"Don't talk to me!" Annie snapped. She scooted her seat away from him.

He sighed. Annie rolled her eyes. Armin then began to reach for her journal, once he touched it, Annie audibly gasped.

"Knock it off! Nosy!" Annie said out loud. The whole class stopped and turned to look at the pair.

"What!" Armin said, shocked. Annie gave him a sly smile and hid that smile behind her hand as Ackerman began to face them. "I just wanted the bell-"

Ackerman glared at Armin. "You just can't keep your mouth shut, huh? Get the hell up here and switch seats with Mikasa. My God, you kids just can't behave." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger and let out a looong sigh.

"But I didn't do anything, I swear!" Armin whined. She just did what she usually did, and that was to ignore her surroundings.

It was no use with Mikasa Ackerman giving you her special death glare the entire period.

It was lunch time. Annie sighed and carefully held her tray close and began to make her way to her table where she would meet her daily... acquaintances? Reiner and Bertholt. Reiner was loud and rowdy. He was also her cousin. Bertholt was quiet. He was also bluntly honest. That's what Annie liked most about him.

Just as Annie was in the middle of the cafeteria, slow walker, some kid from Eren's friend group stood up, and smacked her lunch tray. Annie was suddenly wearing spaghetti and meatballs. Annie dropped her tray to the floor, and the loud sound of metal and tile echoed throughout the cafeteria. She looked up at the taller student. It was Jean Kirschestein.

Jean shook his head and sighed. "Sorry, my handz just spazzed out." Annie couldn't hear him over the small laughter echoing in the cafeteria. Annie glared. She knew she was being teased for something she couldn't control. The fact that her hands would twitch uncontrollably whenever she was nervous, angry, or scared. Right now she was angry.

"Screw you." Annie said. As she began to leave, Annie decided to turn back around and give Jean a little gift. She went back and stomped on his now healed foot with her brand new combat boots. She remembered hearing a rumour that Eren dropped a bowling ball on his foot during the summer.

She left with the satisfying sound of a pained whimper coming from Jean, ringing in her ears.

Annie opened her friend Mina's locker. Mina always had clothes in her locker for emergencies so hopefully she wouldn't mind that Annie took a pair. She carefully folded the clothes and put them in her backpack. She didn't want to stink the clothes with the stench of tomato sauce.

Mina was a somewhat new friend of Annie's. Last month was August and about 2 weeks after school started, Mina confronted Annie and apologized for always being a bystander. Yes, Mina was always there when Annie would be bullied. Annie forgave her and ever since then, Mina stuck to Annie like glue.

Annie entered the girls bathroom and went inside the handicap stall so she could have room to change. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of tomato sauce when she peeled her beloved jacket off. Her shirt had also been stained. She took that off as well. Annie soon stood there in just her undergarments. As she went to get her backpack, a perfect hand adorned in bracelets and rings snatched it out from under the stall.

"What the... Hey! Come back!" Annie jumped up and grabbed the top of the stall and climbed up to peer over the stall. She saw a petite blonde girl rushing out of the bathroom.

Crap! The clean clothes are in arere! Annie dropped herself. She refused to put the dirty clothes back on. Now what... Mina! I'll call her!

Annie grabbed her phone from the back pocket of her stained jeans. She dialed Mina's number. Annie almost cried in relief when she picked up.

"Hello?" Mina cheerfully greeted.

"Ohmygod! Mina I need your help!" Annie quickly explained the situation to her.

Mina sighed. "Annie, you'll have to wait then. I'm across the street at the diner. I'll be there as soon as I can, I'll run okay?" Then she hung up.

Annie knew that she'd have to wait a while. Mina was also a slow walker. Annie didn't want to be late for gym, that's where she could kick everyone's asses without getting into serious trouble. Annie groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

Annie ran down the hallways as fast as she could. Mina had arrived, late of course. Annie was probably about 10 minutes late to class. If she kept this up, she would get detention. Annie ran up to the gym and yanked the doors open. She was breathless, tired, and sweaty.

"Sorry I'm late." She panted. She ignored the not-so-quiet laughter from some of her classmates. Some students gave her sympathetic looks. So they knew about her stolen clothes. And her backpack too. That costed a fortune. Not really, but you know. Backpacks aren't cheap.

"Leonhardt, if you keep this up I may have to give you detention. We don't want that. You're my best athlete." Hanji shook her head. "Arlert wouldn't happen to be with you, would he? He's late as well."

"No. He's not." Annie snapped as she went to the back of the class and sat next to Bertholt.

"What happened? You've never been this late before." Bertholt asked her.

He's clueless... Annie sighed.

"Why isn't anyone wearing uniforms?" Annie ignored his question.

Sensing that Annie didn't want to talk about it, he played along. "Because we're just playing dodgeball, luckily nothing major like climbing ropes." Bertholt shuddered.

Annie allowed a small smile. She remembered the last time that they climbed ropes. Bertholt's rope broke when he was half way up. He was too heavy.

"Ha." Annie let out a quiet laugh. Bertholt blushed and nudged her shoulder with his.

"Okay everyone, you know the drill. Get in your assigned teams." Hanji clapped her hands.

"Good luck, hopefully you won't get your ass beat too bad." Annie patted Bertholt's back and jogged off to her team which consisted of Ymir, Connie and his chubby, food obsessed friend Sasha, and a really in love couple, whose names Annie has forgotten. The rest was people she also couldn't care less about.

The other team had all the people she couldn't stand, excluding Bertholt of course. There was Mikasa and her perfect self and her brother Eren, Jean, Christa, Marco, and other kids she couldn't care about. Armin too but he's absent right now. Annie sighed. Her team usually slacked off.

Annie lined up at the back wall with the rest of her team as Hanji placed 6 dodge balls in the middle of the gym. She watched Eren and Jean balancing themselves on the opposite side of the gym. With only one of their two foots on their wall so they could have some sort of head start. She saw some her teammates do this as well.

Idiots. This could only result in disaster.

"Go! Start!" Hanji blew her whistle. Immediately kids began running, except for Eren and Jean who slipped and fell on their faces.

Annie quickly snatched a ball and threw it at Jean as hard as she could when he finally stood up. It him square in the stomach. He fell over with an "Oof". Eren soon fell over as well when Ymir hit him in the forehead

"Nice shot." Ymir acknowledged Annie and gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder and a nod of approval. Annie nodded back.

"You too." Annie wiped the sweat off her forehead. Annie deemed Ymir as cool.

Annie leaped over a dodgeball that ended up hitting Franz in the legs, causing him to fall on his back. Annie shook her head and rolled her eyes as his girlfriend began kissing him and comforting him.

"Watch out!" Connie shouted out to Annie. She looked up to see a fast ball coming her way. She quickly caught it and stumbled a bit. Annie looked up for the culprit.

Hanji whistled her whistle. "Mikasa Ackerman! You're out!"

"What! That's BS!" Eren complained. "Annie got hit!"

Hanji threw her head back and laughed a scary laugh. Annie smirked. "No, Annie caught the ball. Which means Mikasa is out!"

Annie saw Mikasa send her another cold glare. Annie shook it off. Annie threw the ball at Bertholt as gently as she could. He's out. Now it's only Christa and about 3 other kids on their team. There were 6 kids in Annie's team, counting her, Ymir, and Sasha. Connie ended throwing the ball at himself.

"We're outnumbered." Annie heard Christa pant. Christa began to fix her messy ponytail. That's when Annie noticed and recognized the hand that was adorned with expensive jewelry that stole her backpack.

That bitch! Annie fumed. She grabbed a dodgeball rolling around and with great force, she threw it at Christa. But she ducked to pick up a hair tie she dropped. The gym doors opened and the ball hit the person stepping through the doors. The person immediately fell backwards as the ball hit them in the stomach. They dropped a familiar purple backpack.

"My backpack!" Annie said to herself.

"Armin!" Somebody called out in worry.

Crap.


	3. Chapter 3

Annie was waiting outside of the principal's office. She didn't even mean to hit Armin. She meant to hit the other blonde, devil in disguise, Christa.

Somebody had told Hanji that Annie threw it at Armin on purpose, Annie wouldn't be surprised if it were Mikasa, trying to throw her under the bus.

Principal Smith had already talked to Eren and was now talking to some other students about this whole ordeal. She waited for her turn to be interrogated.

She heard people talking pretty loudly so she turned around and saw Armin walking out of the nurse's office with Mikasa and Eren by his side. He seemed fine... What?

Annie turned back around, obviously bothered.

Annie began to rummage through her backpack, looking for her journal. She needed to calm down and writing or doodling something will calm her. Annie then dumped the contents of her backpack out. Only notes and her binder fell out. Her journal was missing! Annie began to freak out, her hands were starting to twitch. That journal was her life! It had her poems and writings in it. Not only that, her journal was also her diary, her diary filled with her private thoughts.

Annie clutched her queasy stomach as the door opened. "Miss. Leonhardt, a word please?" Mr.Smith let the witness leave.

This isn't good... Annie looked up at her principal who raised one of those large, bushy eyebrows. She felt it coming. She sat there, not moving a muscle.

"Miss. Leonhardt, I don't have all day!" The kids stopped their talking and looked at them as the principal raised his voice. She heard somebody asking if she was okay. Annie answered with her throwing up on her principal's shoes.

"Annie, look on the bright side! At least you didn't get in trouble for the ball throwing incident!" Mina said to her friend. Annie hid her face in her pillow. It had turned out that Armin had Annie's backpack over his stomach so he didn't get hit. But that still didn't help her find her journal's whereabouts. The journal was still missing. Annie had Reiner interrogate Eren and Armin and he didn't find anything out other than Armin's story of where he found her backpack. In a garbage can outside the main building with her supplies littered around the area.

Armin tried to talk to Annie but she was already embarrassed from throwing up on Principal Smith's expensive leather shoes. And Annie was almost positive that Christa took her backpack to steal the clothes and found her journal, which she kept as a trophy.

Mina's and Annie's phones rung at the same time. They turned their heads and the pair exchanged a look. They both got their phones out and saw that they both received a media message from an unknown number. Annie opened it and it began to play a video of Annie throwing up on Principal Erwin's shoes.

"Oh, Annie!" Mina began to comfort her friend. Annie shrugged her off and motioned for Mina to show her message. Mina opened it and it revealed to be the same video Annie received and apparently, it was sent to the whole student body at their small school.

"This is horrible! Annie, I'm so so sorry!" Mina hugged her friend.

"Mina, it's fine." Annie sighed. She tried to pry her friend off of her but it didn't work. "Come on, Mina. Calm down it'll be fine." Annie comforted her.

"No it's not! How are you not upset? You have to deal with this every day! Just talk to me and tell me about it so I can help!"

"I don't really care. And I don't need 'help'. I'm fine." Annie sighed and gave uo on fighting.

"Sorry, for wiping snot and tears on your shoulder. I can't help it." Mina let go off Annie and flopped down on her bed.

Annie rolled her eyes. "Thanks for your concern, but I honestly don't care. They're childish and can't grow up." Annie laid back down on her bed. "I'm not bothered."

Mina let out a small laugh. "Annie, you're amazing, I wish I was like you." Mina got up from Annie's bed. "I have to head off, my parents want me to be home for dinner."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Annie bid her friend a goodbye and Mina left.

Great, now I have I go through all the trouble of facing everyone tomorrow. Annie covered herself with her blanket.

Annie walked into school the next day and people started at her, whispering to their friends. Some looked at her with sympathy, and some just didn't carr enough to acknowledge her. She just walked to her locker like she usually would. She opened her locker like she usually would. And grabbed her folders and pencils like she usually would. Annie closed her locker and started heading off to class. About 15 more minutes until it started but she figured it was better to head early so she can get there hopefully before the bell rang. The class wasn't far, Annie is just a slow walker.

Annie was about to knock on Mr.Ackerman's door when she heard muffled noises. She stopped and curiously pressed her ear to the door. There was a window on all the classroom doors but Mr. Ackerman always had it covered so no nosy students would peek in through passing periods. She heard an impatient groan.

"H-Hurry up," She heard Mr.Ackerman say, "We don't have all day.

"I'm doing my best, okay?" Annie was pretty sure it was Eren in there. "How do you like that? Too small?"

"It'll work, for now. You're an idiot. I'm doing it next time."

Annie backed away from the door, wanting to make a run for it. But instead, the heel of her brand new boots slipped on a pencil and Annie tripped. Her binder and book she was currently holding scattered. Her body hitting the ground with a loud thud was probably as loud as she thought it was because the complaining stopped.

"Did you hear that?" Annie heard Levi say. She began to quickly pick up her items. She did not want to get caught eavesdropping.

"I didn't hear anything." She heard Eren say. She had to get out of here! Whatever it is they were up to, it sure wasn't studying for a quiz. Annie grabbed her book and binder, and raced down the hallway. She made a turn and tripped. Well, she lost her footing. The floor was slippery. She ended up bringing another fellow student down with her. She fell on the student.

"Ouch!" Annie looked up and saw she had landed on Armin... Yikes.


	4. Chapter 4

Annie quickly threw herself off of Armin when she saw she fell on top of him. "Where's the fire?" He asked her.

"Shush!" She hissed. She grabbed her things. "I can't deal with this right now. Especially after you and your friends sent everyone that embarrassing video of me throwing up pure acid." She seethed. Okay, so she lied to Mina. Maybe Annie did care, just a little.

Armin sat up and looked at her. "But, I had nothing to do with it."

Annie stared at him for a second. "Yeah, but you didn't stop it either." She quickly fled the scene.

Armin sighed and rubbed the back of his head. He got up and dusted himself off. Then Eren came around the corner looking happier and relaxed and kind of sluggish. He smelled weird. "Eren, what are you doing here?"

Eren stopped. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Well, I asked you first but anyways, I needed to talk to Mr. Ackerman before class but Annie ran into me and we fell. She was in a rush." Armin picked up his backpack. "So why are you here, if I may ask again?" Armin looked at his friend's face a bit more closely, "Were you crying? No wait, are you-"

"Well... I was talking to Ackerman about an assignment. I really do need to raise my grade. Let's go get donuts!" Eren grabbee Armin's arm and ignored his protests as he dragged him to the cafeteria.

Annie was late to first hour by five minutes. Her teacher was really picky about being late. Annie sighed then opened the door to his class, glad it was unlocked today, and wrinkling her nose at the familiar smells of Clorox bleach and Windex. Annie shuddered then made her way to her seat, not making eye contact with her teacher. He sighed and shook his head, he was letting her off easy this morning.

Annie noticed that Armin was in the seat next to hers once again. They didn't have official assigned seats in this class so she questioned why he sat there still. Annie reluctantly sat down and pulled out her binder for this class. Her journal was still missing so she would actually have to pay attention in class today. Annie rested her chin on the palm of her hand and watched Mr. Ackerman write notes on the board. She then noticed Eren staring at her with an intense look in his eye. Annie looked away.

Annie sighed once more. She pulled out a sheet of paper and began to doodle in the margins. She was worried and upset. She felt another pair of eyes on her. She looked up to see Armin attempting to read her paper. She flushed red with anger.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. She clutched the paper close to her and glared at him.

"Sorry, I just wanted to copy your notes." He said.

"I'm not taking notes!" Annie scoffed, "Just quit being so nosy! Get a life!" Annie got up, crumpled her paper, and threw it at Armin. Annie left the class, fuming, when the bell rang.

Annie walked into the front office and went straight to the lost and found. She began to dig through all the crap and hoped to find her notebook. She found Iles' notebook but no journal. She sighed for the umpteenth time today and stood up. She turned around to become face to face with Eren Jeager.

"What do you want?" She asked. She stood her ground and didn't let him intimidate her.

"You heard this morning didn't you?" He asked.

Annie faked a confused look. "Um, no. Leave me alone." She stepped around him and began to make her leave. Then Eren grabbed her arm. "I said leave me alone!"

"I'm not gonna do anything! Just answer me, what did you hear? Armin told me what happened in the hallway." Eren reeked of weed. She would know, Reiner smoked it whenever he came over.

Annie hissed. She pulled her free arm back and punched Eren in the nose. She heard a satisfying crunch.

"What the fuck!" Eren growled. He released his grip on her arm to grab his nose. "That really hurts!"

"Never. Touch. Me!" Annie ran out of the office and bumped into someone. What's up with my bad luck? She looked up and grimaced. It was Armin. Again.

"Well, this must be fate." He said with amusement lingering in his voice. Annie scoffed and shoved him.

Armin watched her leave then turned to his raging friend. "Whoa, did she hit you? Ha! Can't say you don't deserve it."

"Yeah yeah, shut up!" Eren pushed pass Armin and headed towards the nurse's office.


	5. Chapter 5

Annie tapped her foot, impatiently. She had been waiting for Ackerman to open the door to let her in the classroom. Yes, Annie was late for class. No one ever said that she had the best attendance. Ackerman always did this to her. He'd see her coming down the hall and once the bell rang, he'd shut the door and waited for everyone to finish the bellwork before actually letting her in so she wouldn't copy off anyone.

Speaking of Ackerman, here he is. About time.She rolled her eyes at him when he opened the door. He raised an eyebrow. Annie retreated to the back of the class. She sat down next to Armin, avoiding his gaze.

"Here." He whispered to her as he pushed his bellwork towards her. Annie raised an eyebrow, doubt was in her face. "Hey, I'm trying to make amends with you, accept it."

Annie scoffed. "And why would you do that? No thanks. I'm not interested in your bellwork, I can do it on my own." She shoved his bellwork away. He pushed the bellwork back towards her. "I am going to rip that paper if you don't stop."

"Come on, I'm trying to be nice. I actually found it kinda cool when you punched my best friend in the face." He grinned and Annie felt her cheeks getting hot. She turned away from him and copied the bellwork.

I know why Eren hasn't snitched on me.Something was up in this classroom yesterday morning. She thought as she finished up her bellwork.

Annie sat in a booth at the diner across her school's campus with her four friends, Mina, Bertholt, and Reiner. They hadn't received their food yet so they were ripping through the complimentary bread rolls. Annie grabbed one and tore a piece off with her teeth and chewed loudly on purpose, because she knew Mina hated when she did that. She liked to get a reaction out of her friend.

"Annie I swear to god, stop it!" Mina groaned. Reiner started to do the same with his bread, as well as Bertholt. Mina covered her ears and shut her eyes. "Oh my gosh, I hate you guys!"

Annie smirked a little and stopped. "Okay I stopped." She poked Mina's shoulder repeatedly until Mina opened her eyes and removed her hands from her ears. "That lady needs to hurry, I'm starving!" Annie rested her head on the window and watched students leave their after school activities. Annie couldn't understand how people would want to stay longer forclubs.

"Annie, you ordered the most food of all of us, that's why she's taking a long time." Reiner threw a piece of bread at Annie. It took every bit of her to not to throw the table at Reiner. She sighed and tucked her bangs behind her ear. Annie guessed she had spaced off for a while when Mina pinched her thigh in an attempt to get her attention.

"Ow!" Annie hissed as she swatted Mina's hand away. "What's your damage?" Mina gave her a look of disbelief, Reiner laughed out loud and Bertholt was quiet as usual.

"Annie! Armin, Eren, and Mikasa walked in here like 5 minutes ago and Armin's been staring over here nonstop!" Mina harshly whispered. Annie sighed.

"I'm more worried about the fact that it's been about 30 minutes and we still haven't gotten our food. I don't care about Armin and his cronies." Annie grumbled. She rested her chin in her hand and looked out of the window and ignored her friends.

She heard Mina call the waitress over and ask about the food. Annie shifted a bit to peek at where Armin's table was at and Mina was right, he was looking at her. And they made eye contact. He sat opposite of Eren and Mikasa.

Annie felt her face heat up so she looked away.

"Annie!" Mina stabbed Annie in the side with her finger. Annie hissed and glared. "Sorry! Come with me to the bathroom!"

Annie sighed and followed after Mina, ignoring how Armin watched her and Mina walk away. They barged into the restroom. Luckily it was empty. "Mina what is it?! If you don't hurry and tell me what's up, someone is getting slam dunked into the toilet and let me tell you, it isn't me!" Annie shook Mina by the shoulders.

"Annie! Chill out! I just needed to use the restroom!" Mina defended herself. She lightly took her friend's hands off her shoulders and began to primp herself.

"You liar." Annie mumbled. "Just spit it out, by the time we get out there, Reiner will have eaten our food! I spent a lot of money on that food! I'm starving, Mina!" Annie turned and looked at her reflection. It was her plain old self. Dressed in her plain old white sweater and washed out black jeans with white sneakers. She patted her usual bun and brushed her bangs a bit to the side. She realized that Mina was watching her with amusement lingering on her face. "What?!"

"Nothing, I'm a bit surprised. Younevercheck yourself out in the mirror. Are you nervous about Armin being here?! Is that it!" Mina clutched Annie's shoulders and began to shake her. Annie lightly took Mina's hands off her shoulders and glared.

"I think you're forgetting thatyoudraggedmehere! You know what, I'm not gonna stand here and let you treat me like this! I'm going back to the table and I'm gonna stuff myself with food regardless of Armin being here, capeesh?!" Annie reached for the door handle before Mina grabbed her once more and dragged her back.

"Fine, no more games! Armin is exactly why I brought you in here! Plus, I thought my ponytails were off so I wanted to check them out. Anyways, do you like Armin?!" Mina blurted out the unwanted yet expected question. Annie stiffened and turned beet red.

"Excuse me?! I don't think I heard you correctly, are you askingmeif I like Armin?! Are you crazy! Of course I-" Annie was cut off by the bathroom door opening. Mikasa appeared. She looked at the pair of girls, Mina looking ecstatic and Annie like a disheveled tomato. She slowly closed the door and left. Annie turned slowly back towards Mina.

"She probably heard that! I can't believe you!" Annie stormed out of the bathroom and ignored Mina's calling for her. She walked up towards her table, ignoring her surroundings. She heard Reiner warning her to "Watch out", before she collided into her waitress. Who had a tray full of sodas. Annie blinked. She looked and saw that she was covered in both Sprite and Coke. It was evident on her white jacket. Her thin, white, see-through jacket. Annie has never felt so humiliated. Under her jacket, she wore nothing but a black bra.

Now everyone in the diner knew. They knew Annie liked to wear black bras with red roses on it's fabric.


	6. Chapter 6

Annie pushed pass Mina and the shocked waitress. Annie caused her to spill the drinks that belonged to Armin's table. She figured after Eren had began to cry about it. She threw the entrance door against the wall and felt satisfied with the loud noise that caused anyone nearby to jump. She sniffed. She walked down the parking lot. Annie sniffed again. She sat at the public bus stop and covered herself with her hands, nobody was nearby but she still felt like somebody was watching.

How embarrassing... And dramatic! Annie wanted to throw herself off a giant staircase due to this traumatic and humiliating experience.

"Hey, are you okay? Are you crying?" Annie looked up to see Armin looking at her. He had his backpack and everything.

"I'm not crying." Annie didn't bother to wipe the tears, her hands were sticky with soda. She didn't want it on her face. "Why are you following me? Every where I go, you end up seeing me look like an idiot!" Annie sniffed and more tears fell. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, it made her feel a bit more secure.

Armin sat next down to her, "I didn't realised you cared about how you look in my eyes, Annie." There was a hint of teasing in his voice.

"That's not what I meant, don't flatter yourself." Annie snapped.

Armin cleared his throat and looked aay. "I was with Eren and Mikasa at the restaurant to wait for my grandpa to come pick me up." Annie huffed and looked at the street, she ignored him.

"Here you can use my sweater to cover yourself." Armin draped his black sweater over Annie's head.

"I don't need your generosity." Annie grabbed the sweater anyways and covered herself with it.How embarrassing and pathetic.They were both silent for a while until Annie decided to speak up. "Thanks." She looked away from him.

"It's no problem. Really." Armin replied. Annie felt her heart skip a beat. A car pulled up beside them. "That's my ride."

"Bye." Annie picked at her fingernails. A couple of seconds passed and she looked up, seeing that Armin hadn't gone to his car.

"You wanna ride home? I don't mind so don't try and fight your way out of it." Armin raised an eyebrow. Annie ignored that nagging voice inside in her head, telling her to turn around and run away. She decided to follow him. As she reached to open the backseat, Armin quickly shot past her and opened the door for her. Annie ignored the stupidly smug look on his face and got in the car. She looked up to see his grandpa kindly smiling at her.At least I know where he gets that dumb grin from.Annie forced a smile at him. Annie wasn't that surprised to see that Armin decided to settle in the backseat with her.

"Grandpa, this is my friend, Annie," Annie's eyes widened at that and stared at Armin, "I hope you don't mind giving her a ride home." Armin looked around the drivers seat to make eye contact with his grandpa. Annie shifted awkwardly as she put her seat belt on. Safety first.

"Of course not! It's nice to meet a new friend of Armin's! Nice to meet you Annie!" Armin's grandpa smiled at her again before turning back to the road as he waited for them to settle before he actually drove.

"It's uh... nice to meet you too... Armin's grandpa." Annie shifted a bit. She felt like she just doused herself with a huge bottle of Awkward. She really called Armin's grandpa, "Armin's grandpa".

"I actually live by that big shopping mall, you know? Not too far." She avoided eye contact with both Grandpa and Grandchild. Grandpa Arlert hummed and nodded before turning the radio on. The station was a station was all too familiar with, the classical music station. Yikes.

"We'll get you home in no time!" He began to drive. "Do you kids smell soda?"

They pulled up in front of Annie's house. Nothing too special. Some grass, a small tree, bushes, etc. "Thanks for the ride, Armin's Grandpa." Annie unbuckled her seat belt and began to step out of the car.

"It's no problem! Anytime! Have a great rest of your day!" Grandpa Arlert smiled an old man's smile, kind and soft. Annie attempted to smile, kinda hard when your face is drenched in tears, soda, and humiliation.

She looked at Armin who had a small smirk on his face. She could see the family resemblance.

Annie just closed the door and walked up to her front door and didn't look back. She didn't need this. Annie reached in her back pocket and got her house key out, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. She watched them drive off through the little peep hole that was built in the door. Annie clutched her chest for a second before ripping off Armin's stupid jacket and taking it to her stupid laundry machine.

Annie vigorously dried her hair with her towel. She shook the remaining droplets out before she began to change into a pair of yoga pants and an old t-shirt. Annie took a deep breath in and let out a loud groan. She hated the long process of getting ready to go anywhere, but you couldn't jog in the nude can you? Annie pulled her brush through her hair then put it up in her signature bun.

Annie checked her phone to see that she had multiple text messages from Mina, Reiner, and Bertholt. She ignored them and went onto Instagram where she accepted a follow request from Ymir. Yay, now she has 5 followers. One that isn't her 3 pity friends and her dad.

Annie pocketed her cell phone and put on a pair of socks then slipped on her running shoes. As she made her way down the stairs, she began to debate on whether or not she wanted to jog. It meant she'd have to shower again. Annie sighed and opened the front door and nearly fainted when she saw Mina just standing there, holding Annie's backpack

"What are you doing?! You almost made me die!" Annie clutched her chest, obviously shaken up.

"I'm sorry, Annie! I came to drop off your backpack and see how you were doing." Mina held out Annie's backpack.

Annie took it and dropped it inside. "How long have you been standing there for?"

"Honestly?" Mina gave Annie a sheepish look, "About 10 minutes."

Annie groaned. "Really, Mina? My neighbors already think I'm crazy. What do you think they're thinking right now?"

"That I'm a very good friend." Mina said confidently. Annie rolled her eyes. "Are you going out?" Mina asked.

"I actually am. I'm going out for my daily jog." Annie walked pass Mina and shut her front door. "Did you walk here?"

"No. I rode my bike." She pointed at her pink middle school bike. "I'm coming with you!"

Annie gave Mina a look. "You're gonna go jogging in a fluffy skirt and flats?"

Mina ignored her comment. "Let's go!" She began running down the street.

"Mina!" Annie called out. "You forgot to stretch!"

"I'm so tired!" Mina complained. She was sweaty and very tired. She limped towards where Annie was leaning on a tree, waiting for her friend to catch up.

"It's those shoes. That's why. And you're out of shape." Annie yawned and stretched. It was nearing 8 o'clock. "We should head back. You should also stay over, it's too late for you to go back home. Unless your parents will come for you." Annie pushed herself off the tree and started to get ready to run back home.

"No more running! Stop!" Mina latched onto Annie. "Switch me shoes!"

"What? No way." Annie tried to pry Mina off.

"Yes." She already untied one of Annie's laces. Annie sighed and began to switch her beloved Nikes for Mina's pink flats.

"Happy?" Annie asked.

"Very. But I still don't want to run back. We're so far from your house!" Mina complained.

"No we are not." Annie scoffed.

Mina gave her an exasperated look. "Annie! Your house is behind those houses. Look at where we are! We are at the mall! We actually ran from across the street to the mall's parking lot! No way in heck is this your running trail."

"It isn't." Annie confessed. "I was interested in buying a 'totes cute pair of pink flats with roses!'" She mocked. Mina shoved Annie.

"Let's go before they call security on us. The mall is about to close." Mina pulled Annie by the hand.

They walked in a comfortable silence. Well, Annie thought it was comfortable. Mina didn't think so.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have teased you at the diner like that. I wasn't considerate of your feelings and I embarrassed you. I'm sorry, Annie."

"Don't apologize. I'm not mad at you. Just don't tease me. We're cool. Although, I probably owe Eren and his cronies new sodas." Annie internally groaned.

Mina linked her arm with Annie's. "It's all right, don't worry about the drinks. And I'll limit my teasing ways." They walked in another comfortable silence. It really didn't last that long.

"Sooo... Did Armin follow you? Did you guys talk about anything?" Mina asked innocently.

Annie slowly turned her head towards her, suspiciously. "Why?"

"Well, we saw," Mina said. "Reiner, Bertholt, and I. And everyone else in the restaurant." Annie rolled her eyes.

"Then, don't ask questions that you already know the answer to." Annie brushed it off and ignored the exasperated look Mina gave her.

"Well, what happened? I need details!" Mina exclaimed.

Annie sighed and unlinked her arm from Mina's. "My life isn't some teen drama for you to gawk at and fawn over, Mina."

That shut her up. "I didn't mean to offend you.."

Annie didn't respond. She couldn't look at Mina. If she did, she might go off on her for always just asking about the drama in Annie's life and not how her day was. Sure they were friends but Annie couldn't help but have this little nagging voice in the back of her head telling her not to trust Mina with everything.

They walked in an uncomfortable silence.

They crossed the street, safely this time. No jaywalking. They made it to Annie's house in one piece and Mina picked up her bike and left without saying goodbye.

Annie kicked off Mina's forgotten flats as soon as she stepped inside of her empty home.


	7. Chapter 7

It was the weekend and despite it shining outside, Annie could feel dark clouds looming over her. She sat up in bed, her hair still damp from not drying it after she took a second shower last night. She smoothed the rat's nest and stretched on her way to the bathroom and she began to brush her teeth. Annie took notice of her dad's clothes resting in the hamper.

I never heard him come in... And I stayed up pretty late. Annie brushed her front teeth. She did stay up late. Stay up late worrying about her journal being in the wrong hands and the fact that she and Mina were not talking.

Annie rinsed out her mouth and wiped the water from her mouth off with the back of her hand, and took a good look at herself in the mirror. One eye was smaller than the other due to lack of sleep, her lips were very dry due to dehydration or maybe the fact that Annie drools and sleeps with her mouth open. She also needed a haircut. Her hair was getting long and shaggy. She combed her hair and put it in her signature bun.

Annie passed her father's bedroom and saw him passed out. She made her way downstairs to check the to-do list her father usually left out for her. She took it off the fridge and read that her father needed a new pair of work boots. She turned and saw her dad's ruined footwear by the staircase.

If it were any other day, Annie would have asked Mina if she was down to go to the mall with her. But it wasn't any other day.

* * *

Annie carefully drove her dad's truck to the mall and she carefully parked between two cars that were obviously nicer than hers.

She entered the mall and made her way to the store her father always bought shoes from. She knew what size from what brand to get. It's the least she could do for her dad because he's the only one that cares for her.

Annie picked the same pair of shoes like she always did because her father doesn't like change and if she got the wrong pair of shoes, her father would make her walk back to mall to get the right pair of shoes. Annie paid for her dad's shoes and exited the store.

She saw her reflection in the window of the store across the shoe store. Compared to anyone else walking by, Annie looked like she was in pajamas. Worn out leggings and her white hoodie clashed with her new combat boots. Mina still has her tennis shoes. Annie took notice of the people inside the store in front of her. Sephora workers. They didn't say anything but Annie could tell they were judging her. And Annie took notice of others in the store, Mikasa and Christa were talking to a worker by some foundation. Then Annie saw Mina turn a shelf and met up with Mikasa and Christa. Annie made a beeline for the Supercuts, wanting to avoid being seen by her bullies sister, his friend, and her "friend".

Annie walked into the Supercuts and was greeted by... Ymir? "Hey Annie, what's up? Here to get your hair cut?"

Annie raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, I am. Are you here to get your hair cut?"

Ymir smiled a bit, "Nah. I'm working part-time at the register. I'm being trained to cut hair."

"You want to be a stylist?" Annie asked, "Doesn't seem like your type of career choice, no offense."

"That's because it isn't." Ymir rolled her eyes, "I'm totally offended! I want to be a makeup artist!" Annie gave Ymir a doubtful look. "I'm kidding. It's a joke, Annie. I'm pretty sure Hitch can take you now. Hey, Hitch!"

Annie groaned. She forgot that Hitch wanted to be a hair stylist. She graduated high school last year and was a frenemy of Annie's. "I'd rather come back another day when Hitch isn't here."

Ymir grinned at Annie as Hitch came 'round the corner. "Annie! Is that you? You have NOT changed a bit! Still short and the same hair style!" Hitch sashayed over and kissed Annie's cheeks.

Annie looked at her in shock, "Um? Hitch, you literally saw me like three weeks ago. And you HAVE changed!" She did. She cut her hair to shoulder length and had it curled. It really suited her. But Annie was surprised that High decided to chop off her waist length hair.

"I know right? Did you miss me that much?" Annie rolled her eyes to the back of her head. "Come on Annie, I'll turn your hair from drab to fab!" Annie shot her a dirty look.

"Hitch, you work at Supercuts! How 'fab' can you turn my hair? And anyways, I don't feel comfortable with you doing my hair. You'd probably dye it pink or something." Annie struggled as Hitch tried to drag her to the sink to wash her hair.

"I'm an amazing hair stylist! I did my own hair and I even did Ymir's hair!" Annie looked over at Ymir who wore her hair in her signature ponytail.

"Wow, such a difference." Sarcasm oozed from Annie's voice and Hitch pouted.

"Come on, Annie! I won't mess your hair up on purpose! Everything that happened between us is high school drama! Totally irrelevant! I promise you'll love your hair after I'm through with you!" Hitch pleaded.

Annie was at a loss for words. "I'm more worried about the fact that you said that wouldn't mess my hair up on purpose." Hitch rolled her eyes. "Fine. I just want a trim. That's it!"

"Great! Now just sit here!" Hitch shoved Annie into the chair and snatched the bag which contained her dad's boots and tossed them at Ymir who luckily caught them. "Let's start!" Hitch leaned the chair back quickly and Annie felt her heart jump to her throat.

"Careful!" Annie warned. Hitch let Annie's hair loose and began to rinse.

"So, how's senior year for you, Annie?" Hitch asked as she began to lather shampoo into Annie's hair, her fingers massaging Annie's scalp. Annie's eyes began to roll to the back of her head. "Hey, wake up!"

"Sorry. It's whatever. Same old same old. Just waiting to graduate." Annie replied. Hitch wasn't pleased with her answer.

"Are you in any clubs? New friends? A boyfriend?" Annie rolled her eyes at that. "Girlfriend?"

"You're asking the wrong girl about that." Annie glared at Hitch and pointed Ymir's way.

"Ymir? Clubs, friends, girlfriend?" Hitch asked as she rinsed Annie's hair.

"Annie accepted my follow request on Instagram so we're pretty official, right Annie?" Ymir said.

"What?! You accepted Ymir's request and not mine? I requested you last year!" She massaged conditioner into Annie's hair.

"Because I can actually stand Ymir." Hitch threatened to spray Annie in the face.

"Aw, Annie. I'm flattered but I got a girlfriend already!" Ymir hummed. Annie internally groaned.

"Ooh, who is it?" Hitch asked. Annie already knew the answer.

"You remember Christa right? The gorgeous blonde angel? Her." Ymir said dreamily. Annie didn't have to look to know that Ymir had a stupid look on her face.

"You finally made a move? I'm happy for you." Hitch said, genuinely. She rinsed Annie's hair once more. "Okay, let's move you." She let Annie's chair up and adjusted a towel around her neck.

Annie was led to another salon chair where Hitch wrapped a smock of some sorts around Annie's front torso. "Okay, show me how short you want it to be."

"Right about here." Annie gestured towards her shoulder. "Don't pull anything, Hitch, or you're not getting paid."

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep your head still and don't move it or you'll be missing an ear." Hitch began to pin up parts of Annie's hair.

"I'm having second thoughts about this, Hitch. I think I should go..." Annie began to get up but was then shoved back down.

"You're staying right here. I'm already starting!" She snipped a piece of Annie's hair off. Annie wouldn't lie and say she wasn't scared.

"I'm serious, Hitch. I just want a trim. Nothing more, nothing less."

Hitch sighed and complied.

It was quiet in the salon and only the snipping of Annie's hair and the music from the speakers were heard.

Annie was relaxed until Ymir startled her by dropping herself into the empty salon chair next to Annie.

"Don't move unless you wanna lose an ear!" Hitch moved Annie's head back into place. Annie quietly mumbled a "Sorry".

"Ymir, shouldn't you be at the register? Waiting for customers?" Hitch sighed.

Ymir propped her feet up on the small counter in front of her. "We aren't getting any customers anytime soon. Annie is our first customer and it's 2 in the afternoon!"

Hitch glared at Ymir. "Rude."

Ymir ignored her. "Annie, do you always have to look so angry? What's on your mind?"

"I'm not angry." Annie looked at herself in the mirror and saw her angry reflection and tried to relax. "It's just how I look."

"Leave her alone, Ymir. Before I get you fired." Hitch warned.

"You won't do it. You like me too much." Ymir replied. Ymir began using her phone, everyone was just chilling.

"Annie." Ymir spoke up. Annie internally groaned.

"What is it?"

Ymir pursed her lips, thinking of what to say. "I've always thought you've been pretty cool. But, Christa tells me otherwise." Annie tried looking at Ymir through the mirror in front of her. Annie knew that Ymir wasn't afraid of confrontation. But why is this something she'd bring up now? So when Hitch leaves for a minute, Ymir can take over and fuck Annie's hair up?

"I don't know what you're talking about." Annie said, honestly.

Ymir's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you do."

"I don't." Annie got upset. She was not going to let Christa's girlfriend, tell her that she was the one being a bitch while Christa and her friends are the ones messing around with Annie.

"Your girlfriend and her dumb friends won't leave me alone!" Annie resisted the urge to snap her head to look at Ymir. Hitch was still snipping away, listening to the conversation. "You know what 'prank' they pulled on me? They spilled spaghetti on me and Christa stole my extra pair of clean clothes. She threw my backpack in the trash! Her friends recorded me throwing up on Smith's shoes," Hitch let out a whistle at that, "And sent it out to the whole school! Sorry Ymir, your girlfriend isn't an angel. She's a stone cold bitch!"

It was quiet once again. Hitch didn't say anything and Annie was happy. It wasn't any of her business.

"I mean, I saw the video... Christa didn't tell me that..." Ymir's voice trailed off. Annie didn't need to see her face to see that Ymir felt a bit guilty. "How do you know she stole your stuff anyway?"

"She snatched it from my bathroom stall. Nobody wears as much hand jewelry as she does." Annie snapped back. Great, now she was getting upset. Ymir was probably going to choke her with the smock placed on her.

"I didn't know."

That was the closest thing to an apology that Annie was going to get. Ymir is really stubborn. It's a surprise that they aren't best friends.

"We're all done here, babe." Hitch spoke up as she ran a comb through Annie's hair. "You look great." She removed the smock and Annie looked at herself in the mirror.

"Thanks, Hitch. I like it." Annie pushed hair behind her ear and walked to the register to pay for her haircut and Ymir followed, getting behind the register.

There was a pretty awkward silence between Annie and Ymir because of what happened. Hitch hugged Annie goodbye and Ymir waved goodbye.

"See you at school."

It could have been worse.

Annie clutched the bag that held her dad's shoes and pulled her phone out to check if he had texted her. He had, asking if she was at the mall.

"Annie, hey." Annie looked up and saw Armin in front of her, eating an ice cream cone while Eren stood off to the side awkwardly.

Annie felt awkward too. "Hey."

Why is everyone here today? Annie wondered.

"Did you come shopping with Mina? I saw her around here." Armin asked.

"No. Just got some shoes for my dad. Did you come shopping with Mina?"

Armin smiled "Nah. Christa did."

"So?" Annie asked. She didn't care about Christa.

"Oh well, she's my cousin," Armin said and Annie internally died. "Her mom dropped us off."

"I gotta go." Annie said. This was too awkward. "My dad's kinda waiting for me."

"See you at school. Don't forget Ackerman's homework." Armin said. Annie nodded and left, making weird eye contact with Eren, who was obviously high. His eyes were glazed and he looked sluggish.

When Annie got to her car, she slumped into her seat, trying to become one with it. She didn't know what to think of today. It's probably the most people she's talked to in one day, in a while.

Annie started the car and began to reverse the car out of the parking space. As she stopped and waited to turn left out of the parking area, Armin, Eren, Ymir, Christa, Mikasa, and Mina, were leaving the store. They were all laughing and having a good time. Ymir noticed her and gave a small wave.

Annie turned left.


End file.
